Ténéré (1988)
by Paco Rabanne

Oh my. This is the reconciliation between macho patchouli-moss bombs and old-school feminine ambery florals -- two things in perfumery which I love but am afraid to wear in public. The first ten minutes had me a little worried, but Tenere settles nicely on me. The honey is a bit heavy, but in concert with the leather and artemisia it began to remind me of a few other scents I truly enjoy. The anise is small- so small! but somehow key in the mix. I bought this blind searching for a good rose scent, and there is most certainly a handsome helping of rose here, and the effect does not disappoint. This is a keeper.

If you love any of these, give Tenere a try -
Derby - leather artemisia, mint
Giorgio for Men - patchouli, honey
Ungaro II - lemon drops, rose
Norell - amber, chypre, white floral

21st November, 2011.

Tenere has a dry/floral opening, accompanied by citrus notes, a typical aroma of fragrances from that time. After 30 minutes, the sweet notes appear, such as honey and star anise, accompanied by a slight cinnamon, where in the final part, we have the emergence of musk, resulting in a decrease in the dry tone in the opening, which makes the fragrance get a much more smooth and easy to please aroma.

21st August, 2011.

Other reviewers that noted Ténéré as more of a fougère are correct in their assessments - this, to me, is a spicy fougère powerhouse that can roll with the big boys and be just as sexy and classy. I get just a slight urinous note in the beginning, but otherwise this is a big spicy patchouli-moss fougère sweetened by honey. Yes, there are some florals in the drydown. Holy moley, I think I smell some leather too! This is a bit like Boss Number One, actually, however more similar to the vintage formulation of Boss Number One. Of course, Ténéré is a projection ace and lasts for a while. A wonderful sexy powerhouse that unfortunately has met an untimely demise - and what a cool bottle! Such a smooth drydown......

EDIT: A second wearing has brought me to the conclusion that the top and middle IS very floral, now that I can decipher a bit better. Still a wonderful spicy floral fougère!

21st December, 2010.

I guess it’s virtually a truism that a masculine floral will bomb. Sad. This one had so many things going for it, too. A bright opening that gets darker as time passes; a raspy lavender that gives it a barbershop quality; a honey/urinous note that makes it feel lived in. I really saw this categorically as a floral fougère in the Kouros mold, and to read the notes, you’d think it was a rewrite of Kouros, but there’s definitely a lot of breathing room between this and Kouros. When I read other people’s thoughts on Ténéré I realized nobody else saw it as a fougère. More as a spicy floral. There’s definitely the lavender. And the dryness of spice (turmeric/ginger? cardamom?) combined with a clove-like carnation and the dank honey note all serve not so much to smell like coumarin, but to takes its place in the fougère accord. Shouldn’t this have made it somewhat appealing to the male nose? I can only guess that the fougère market became defined as fresh and aromatic when Cool Water (same year, 1988) cornered the market and became the category's alpha male.

I can see this one seeming too much. If overapplied, the honey notes makes it a little too dense in enclosed spaces. But in moderation, the buoyancy of the florals wins the day.

29th November, 2010. (Last Edited: 4th April, 2011.)

I had this as my favorite some yeras ago. Once descontinued does anyone know what fragrance is most similar to it? I've been searching the web, but could not find fragrance with notes composition similar to that one. This was a Mr Wargnye's master piece.
thank You all

21st September, 2010.

Ténéré was one of those odd birds: a green floral scent marketed to men; and like the Carolina parakeet and the passenger pigeon, it is long extinct. For a sense of just how fragile such a species is, consider that even in the more forgiving niche fragrance environment Ténéré’s cousin Virgilio was discontinued. Under the commercial pressure of the mass market, Ténéré never had a chance.

In character, Ténéré stands somewhere between Virgilio and the reissued Givenchy Insensé. It’s darker, sweeter, and more overtly floral than the former, but more green and astringent than the latter. Ténéré starts out with an original and intoxicating accord of galbanum and bergamot before it settles into its bittersweet heart. Dry floral note, crisp herbs, and dusty aromatics are set against a honeyed background in a manner that’s at once ideally balanced and fraught with tension. The animalic honey and indolic jasmine components in the central accord add much appreciated warmth to what could otherwise have been an overly cold and aloof scent. Some may find these notes disturbingly “urinous” in combination, but to me they read as animal comfort.

The drydown, when it arrives, is sweet, spicy, and balsamic in a surprisingly oriental vein. This transformation is itself enough to make Ténéré interesting, but that it occurs within a scent of rare and idiosyncratic character makes Ténéré’s demise all the more regrettable.

16th December, 2009.